Save ASA

The Academy of Albanian Studies consisting of four research institutes and two research units is the single most important research institution in the fields of archaeology, history, anthropology, language, and literature in Albania and beyond. Its activity in these fields continues a legacy of over seven decades. This is a period in which the study of the Humanities has moved on from centralized communist ideology-driven research to open and democratic exchange of scientific approaches, modern practices, and theories. It is developing as a twenty first century organisation for a modern European nation.

The Academy of Albanian Studies has served as a pivotal important centre of research, training and education for generations of students and future scholars in these diverse fields and enjoys partnerships with numerous eminent international research institutions in Europe and beyond. Its contribution is not only to Albania’s sciences and culture, but also sustains its growing economy particularly the impressive rise in tourism, and cultural activities which depends on a young generation shaped by a modern education system.

The dissolving of the Academy of Albanian Studies and its reduction into research units within the Academy of Sciences, as currently proposed by the Ministry of Education, would result in a huge impoverishment of the world of research and academia in Albania and would stall the enormous progress of the past several decades in the field of Albanology. It would negatively impact vital cultural links and thus Albania's future and its European ambitions.

We strongly oppose this decision.

Academy of Albanian Studies, Tirana, Albania